Morehouse College founded

Date:

Mon, 1867-02-18

*On this date we celebrate the founding of Morehouse College in 1867. This is a private institution for men, located in Atlanta, Georgia. Morehouse College is a member of the 39 United Negro College Fund lists of higher learning institutions.

Morehouse is also one of the leading Historically Black Colleges, focused on educating African-American students, in the United States. The school began as Augusta Institute in Augusta, Georgia. Augusta Institute was established to train Black men for the ministry and for careers in education. In 1879 the Institute moved to Atlanta and became the Atlanta Baptist Seminary. In 1897 the school was renamed Atlanta Baptist College.

In 1906 Atlanta Baptist College was renamed Morehouse College in honor of Henry Lyman Morehouse, a supporter of the school and a member of the Atlanta Baptist Home Mission Society. That same year the college expanded its curriculum to include courses in the arts, sciences, and humanities. Morehouse College confers bachelor's degrees in the arts and sciences, humanities, business, education, engineering, religious studies, and the health professions.

The school houses a number of research facilities, including the Morehouse Research Institute and the American Institute for Managing Diversity. The campus of Morehouse College is west of downtown Atlanta. Graduates of the college include Martin Luther King, Jr.; Julian Bond; and Edwin Moses.